NBA 2020-21 reg season 1st half thread

flies off like he was hit by a pickup truck

when an unstoppable force meets a moveable object

Dude is a lineman driving against wide receivers

I just wonder how all those connective tissues and cartilage around his knees are going to stand the strain.

"not great" is the answer

i remain optimistic that if he's a hard worker his body will be able to handle it... he won't be pushed to the limit like players in different eras would have been

he's basically the size of an NFL offensive tackle, and the good tackles play 10-12 years in the most brutal sport. i don't see why zion couldn't play 12-15 in the NBA. his injury history so far isn't very concerning, he might just be a freak of nature

it's possible but i also think they need to look at someone like blake griffin and plan for an early peak

he might just be a freak of nature

only 'might be'?

hes good about playing under control, already seems pretty judicious/crafty in using his athleticism, compared to someone like blake who was just trying to jump over people when he came into the league, also the pelicans are clearly taking his long term health very seriously

i mean i wouldnt be surprised if he had a blake like career but also other things could happen, he should really figure out how to shoot tho

he's basically the size of an NFL offensive tackle, and the good tackles play 10-12 years in the most brutal sport. i don't see why zion couldn't play 12-15 in the NBA. his injury history so far isn't very concerning, he might just be a freak of nature

it's absurd to think that zion could play 12-15 years in the NBA?

they're gonna do everything possible to keep him healthy and manage his workload, which is unlike Blake

hes good about playing under control, already seems pretty judicious/crafty in using his athleticism, compared to someone like blake who was just trying to jump over people when he came into the league, also the pelicans are clearly taking his long term health very seriously

― lag∞n, Friday, February 12, 2021 3:37 PM (fourteen minutes ago)

^^^

they're different players. blake blew his knee out before he ever played a game and then was second in the league in total dunks his first season and first in total dunks his second season. zion is 10th in the league right now in total dunks. blake was a reckless player, i don't get that from zion. he's not going to show up to the slam dunk contest to jump over a car. if he works to keep himself in shape i don't see why he can't manage a long career... his game will have to change and he will need to expand his skill base (which blake did btw) but the idea that his body is a death sentence for his career, i don't see it.

the average career of an offensive lineman in the nfl is less than 4 years

he's basically the size of an NFL offensive tackle, and the good tackles play 10-12 years in the most brutal sport.

I have no idea how long Zion will play and stay healthy. A long time, I hope. But I will point out that NFL offensive lineman wear braces on their knees for every play of every game and play only 16 to 20 games a year. Not a great point of comparison.

offensive tackles also have to crouch over and explode out of their stances then fight a guy who is trying to beat them up 65 times per game. if you can do that for 10-12 years i think it's w/in the realm of possibility to do it in basketball. most OL last only 4 years not bcuz of injuries but bcuz it's super hard to do and most players aren't good enough at it

i’m just learning that anthony davis has “tendonosis” in his achilles

that seems bad

could be very bad... could be nothing

zion is completely destroying the mavs defense

23 points on 10-10 shooting in the first half

pelicans are losing bcuz porzingis is 7-11 from three in the half

zion 14-15 36pts

And yet only got 3 shot attempts the entire second half...

Now that he's locked up on the 5 year max and isn't a risk to bolt in RFA I think Griff and SVG need to take Ingram aside and have "the chat" about how Zion is the true #1 franchise player on the team at this juncture and he is going to need to accept being the Robin to his Batman so to speak going forward for the sake of the team's future. As good as he is, the 4th quarter selfish ISO-ball routine while Zion is shooting literally 80-90+% and yet not touching the ball for 5+ possessions in a row is just not acceptable or sustainable.

they def should make their offense more zion centric

kinda funny he came out of college with all these highlight plays and now hes just like i do layups, the ultimate makes it look easy guy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__Bl1R8d0TQ

the drive on zinger at 1:20 is pretty funny just no chance barely even had time to flail

children should shield their eyes from that interior defense

Yea I've never seen a 20 year old who hasn't even played one full season make NBA defenses and double/triple teams look completely ineffective like Zion does. And he's still perfectly capable of those wow-worthy highlights like a one handed alley on the break where his eyes were rim level I saw last week, but I think NOLA's medical staff has told him to keep that to a minimum when possible for the sake of his future health. Which is probably for the best if he's still capable of dominating like this with his touch as opposed to his hops.

yeah absolutely its the right way to go, gotta think the marketing department might disagree tho

if the pellies start to win a lot, the marketing department will have no problems with zion's highlight reel, no matter how much he tones down his game to make it look easy.

gotta keep that vaccine pipeline pumping so we can get a crowd in there with zion

hes good about playing under control, already seems pretty judicious/crafty in using his athleticism, compared to someone like blake who was just trying to jump over people when he came into the league, also the pelicans are clearly taking his long term health very seriously

― lag∞n, Friday, February 12, 2021 3:37 PM (fourteen minutes ago)

^^^

they're different players. blake blew his knee out before he ever played a game and then was second in the league in total dunks his first season and first in total dunks his second season. zion is 10th in the league right now in total dunks. blake was a reckless player, i don't get that from zion. he's not going to show up to the slam dunk contest to jump over a car. if he works to keep himself in shape i don't see why he can't manage a long career... his game will have to change and he will need to expand his skill base (which blake did btw) but the idea that his body is a death sentence for his career, i don't see it.

it was his kneecap iirc

There’s an obvious reason why Blake had injury problems, it’s a reason that Zion might as well, but we can’t talk about it on here because of libel laws

blake def looks like hes on the juice, he has the juice face and everything, zion idk

zion just looks fat lol, you can of course be a lil fat and on the juice its just not the typical outcome

it's not a crime to be a thicc boi

not in life but in the nba it is

hes the least world class athlete looking guy he looks like he should be able to jump one foot not four

he literally waddles when he runs

yah if you put the idea of zion in a computer it would say “no”

i made a guy
computer: no

lol

In their final preseason game, he injured his kneecap as he landed after a dunk.[65] The day before the 2009–10 season started, it was confirmed that Griffin had a stress fracture in his left knee, delaying his NBA debut for seven weeks.[65] After resting the stress fracture for several weeks, tests revealed that his knee was not recovering properly.[66] In January 2010, Griffin had surgery on his broken left kneecap, causing him to miss the remainder of the 2009–10 season.[66]

blake broke his knee dunking before he even entered the NBA and then dunked more than anyone in the NBA the following two years in the most insane and violent ways we’ve possibly ever seen. zion doesn’t play this way and has never suffered a major knee injury so idk why he needs to be saddled with blake’s problems

zion dunked like 5 times last night and each time it looked like it required 2% physical exertion

hot take: ppl itt want zion to fail

yeah people playing defense against zion is like how defense was in the 70s or something, just complete lack of interest in messing with him lol